Deeper Than Death
by darkmask133
Summary: Sequel to Sharper Than Steel. Loki is sentenced to serve out a parole on Earth, as a mortal. Yet how can he possibly attempt to atone and adapt when he lives with his supervisor who appears to be the woman he once loved, thought dead, and has no memory of him? Rated M just in case.
1. Hidden In Snow

**This is the second piece to the story I wrote called Sharper Than Steel. For my returning readers, I hope you enjoy. For my new readers, the same goes for you as well. Follow, favorite, leave a review, whatever floats your apple.**

Once the HYDRA base was secured, Coulson and the rest of his team moved in. Having the Avengers certainly made things easier.

It looked like they had been trying to clean up before SHIELD arrived.

Coulson and his team moved toward the lower levels where the most confidential projects were…Anything could be down there, nuclear bombs, Enhanced experiments (which was just another fancy way of saying human lab rats), etc.

"Mind if I take this with you?" Captain America asked, coming up beside Coulson, his shield at the ready.

"Sure Steve" Coulson felt privileged to be able to call him Steve. They moved in swift relative silence as doors were kicked open, Hydra scientists tried to flee, and the occasional flying of sparks.

* * *

She couldn't breathe with his fingers wrapped around her throat. Pinned to her cold metal bed on the thin mattress…She didn't know her attacker's name yet his face was familiar like all the other scientists. This one just happened to be a religious fanatic and considered her an abomination…her.

Being strangled wasn't the worst thing that had happened to her…which was odd because she couldn't remember the worst thing that had happened to her…yet she knew it had happened.

She couldn't remember anything except the cold confines of this place. A single puzzle piece in an as yet unknown picture. Just dreams that didn't make any sense, featuring the green-eyed man who she had never met. She could never remember his face…only his eyes. Yet she felt she'd know them if she ever had the chance to see them in real-life.

Real-life was quickly being choked out of her though.

This might hurt.

* * *

Coulson had barely taken a step towards the last door when it was slammed open, a body flying out of its own seeming accord.

"I'll go. Stay put" Steve said. Whatever was in that room, an Avenger might be the best choice at dealing with a potential Enhanced.

Steve Rogers knew only too well what HYDRA could do to people…what they had done to his best friend. Bucky was still in the process of recovery.

Even through his suit, it was still an unhealthy temperature of cold in the room, as opposed to the rest of the place. He could see his own breath.

An empty bed…several tables of equipment…nothing…until he heard the cough.

It sounded from under the bed.

Bracing himself, Steve knelt.

Under the bed was a woman, hand over her mouth…with blood on those fingers. Her grey eyes immediately moved to him, wide with fear and distress. Her body was thin and clothed in a white medical gown which probably offered little to no protection against the cold.

They stared at each other, each wondering how to proceed.

"Are you hurt ma'am?"

There was blood on her mouth and hands. Steve tried to appear non-threatening without letting his guard down.

His gaze was sharply averted as the door slammed shut behind him, leaving him alone in the cold with this strange woman.

Another wrenching cough drew his attention back to her. She crawled out from under the other side of the bed, clutching her stomach, on her hands and knees, heaving.

"Did…" Steve swallowed quietly. "Did you do that?" He motioned toward the door. She didn't reply and instead sat on the bed, wrapping a sheet around herself. Steve felt odd, wishing he had a jacket to give her.

"You try being strangled" Her voice was slightly hoarse.

"Steve what's going on in there?" Coulson banged on the door, his voice holding a touch of urgency.

"I'm alright"

As if it would help the situation, Rogers removed his helmet and turned back to the woman he wasn't sure was entirely stable.

"It's okay we're here to help"

She tilted her head slightly, grey eyes narrowed.

"Can I let my friend in?" he asked, slowly raising his hands.

"Does your friend have a gun?"

"He won't shoot you I promise" Steve replied. "Like I said, we're here to help"

She shrugged. A second later before Steve could even reach for the door handle, it opened a crack.

"Slow" Steve warned Coulson as he stepped into the room. "Keep those guys out"

Coulson had barely taken two steps in and laid eyes on the woman before his gun shot out of his hands, flying into the hands of the woman. Yet she simply looked at it.

"Heavy" she frowned. "I kept trying to steal one of these things"

She turned the heavy black weapon over in her hands as if she wasn't quite sure what it was…before putting one hand around the trigger and pressing the barrel under her chin.

"Heyheyhey stop you don't want to do that" Coulson took a step forward.

She sighed.

"I don't know what I want…They keep telling me what I need…need…needles…" She groaned softly. "I hate needles…My head hurts"

"Put the gun in your mouth" Coulson said. Steve jerked his head to look at him, his blue eyes alarmed. "Trust me" he said, but whether it was at Coulson or the woman, neither knew.

Slowly she moved the barrel into her mouth.

"Doesn't taste good does it?" Coulson kept his voice even so as not to set her off. She gave a slight shake of her head. "You hungry?"

The woman moved the gun from her mouth, just the barest hint of light in her eyes. Coulson slowly reached into his jacket. She stiffened. He pulled out what Steve recognized as a chocolate bar, still in its wrapper.

"Just hand me the gun" he held the bar out. "It's chocolate"

"It's a rectangle" the woman replied.

"Everything has a shape. This just tastes a lot better" Coulson responded, his fingers near within reach. The woman shrugged, taking the bar and letting him have the gun and his breath back.

She slowly lifted the bar to her mouth, biting off a small square. The delicious flavor spread across her tongue as she carefully chewed and swallowed. The creamy substance felt good in her mouth. If this was a drug of some sort, the woman decided she wouldn't mind taking it.

"Apparently the average chocolate bar contains 8 insect parts" Coulson said. She frowned, looking warily at the bar in her hand. Maybe not the best attempt at conversation.

"She won't be safe with Shield" Steve murmured, turning to Coulson.

"Well how are we supposed to get her out?" Coulson asked, though he had already arrived at the same conclusion. Shield and Hydra, both were a mess at the moment. Trading one captor for another was probably not in the woman's best interest.

"She's sick; she was coughing up blood earlier"

"I'm not sick, that just happens" She said calmly, taking another nibble of chocolate, looking strangely displeased with herself. "Head hurts too" she added. A sharp jab of pain flared in her stomach.

She dropped the bar on the bed and lay down, curled up in a ball. She didn't even protest when Steve Rogers quickly scooped her up in his arms. Not a single thing in the room moved so she was either too weak or was choosing not to struggle.

"Do you have a name?" he asked.

Everything started fading and losing sound. Lina supposed she went to sleep then.

* * *

 **8 Months Later…**

At first, Loki didn't know what day it was…It wasn't as if he'd been looking forward to today's events. He might be free from this cage, but it wasn't freedom, simply a bigger cage…a cage in the form of Earth. His lip curled in distaste at the very notion. He'd be taken to that ridiculous SHIELD organization and assigned a lackey for a supervisor…a captor.

Odin had made it so no mortal would recognize him and had taken his powers away as he had with Thor. Loki liked to believe that he was handling his banishment better than Thor had his at the time. Granted, Thor hadn't caused the death of thousands…In fact Loki was sure that Frigga was the only reason that this farce was being given the go-ahead.

He wondered what his captor would be like. Not one of the Avengers, they were all too busy saving the world, or what passed for it. Clearly it would have be someone they deemed…worthy and capable of such a task…which wasn't saying much, to Loki's mind.

They didn't trust him. They never would. But then, Loki didn't exactly give a damn. He was simply doing this because of Frigga and the main reason he did whatever he did these days (when he was allowed to do anything)…because he was bored.


	2. What If She Could?

**Good evening :) I hope this will tide you over for a bit :)**

Lina knew she couldn't stay with Coulson forever…The last six months of her life had been quite normal, to say the least. She no longer feared the trash truck, distrusted the mailman and was content to fix meals for Coulson despite his insistence that she didn't need to. The only main goal she had was finding the green-eyed man and even that was near impossible, considering he was most likely a figment of her imagination.

Coulson brought home sometimes hundreds of photos of green-eyed men but none of them were…whatever or whoever this man was. Lina didn't even know what she hoped to accomplish by finding this man. Perhaps it was one of those things that would just happen.

So Lina took on a different task, one she knew Coulson had been struggling with for the past few months. Sometimes he might mention work to her…she had no one to tell and tried to help Coulson anyway she could.

A criminal was in need of a supervisor. And knowing Coulson worked with Shield, it wasn't your run-of-the-mill every day criminal. This meant sharing an apartment with said criminal and monitoring his every move, trying to help him adjust to society. Coulson had explained in at least a hundred different ways that Lina was under no obligation to do this and that this man had even rendered him temporarily deceased. Yet if this man was on parole, Lina wanted to protect Coulson just in case the man came after him again…not that she told Coulson this.

Countless interviews with other candidates had been held and none of them quite reached a level of consideration or seemed right for the job.

Despite Coulson's explanation that the man's…abilities would be suppressed, he was still apparently highly intelligent and manipulative even without them.

It wasn't the loads of paperwork, video footage, or as yet unfinished packing Lina minded. She would simply miss Coulson though he and Steve Rogers would be checking in frequently with her.

* * *

Lina still felt a slight prick of unease as she walked into Shield Headquarters…but there was no going back now.

Loki sat in what he was quite sure was an exact replica of the same dull glass cage as last time, despite the fact that they were not in mid-air this time. He was being watched, as he knew he would be but he could behave himself…to an extent.

Fury had even handed him a magazine, as if to mock him. It sat on the table in front of him with garish yellow letters and he had no intention of reading it. He didn't know who or what Kardashian was but it didn't sound like very good reading material. Loki could only sit and wait for the empty chair across from him to be occupied by his yet-to-be-revealed-supervisor.

This stage of the process was supposed to become acquainted with one another, to see if one could handle the other or at least survive five minutes without chaos. Loki had a grim feeling it was entertainment for Thor and the Amateurs, as he referred to them. As if he were a gladiator being sent into the ring, armed with nothing but a twig against bilge snipe.

A slight cloud of depression had formed in his mind…which further deepened when he knocked his water bottle off the table and it rolled under his chair away from him. It was strange, being unable to use magic…as if a limb had been cut off. He sighed, pushing the chair back with a scrape as he rose, straightening his suit as he went to fetch it, when just last week he had only to snap his fingers and rectify the situation.

Loki's fingers had just closed around the bottle when he heard the click and slide of the door open, light footsteps on the cell floor as his solitude was ended. He straightened up, not yet turning, feeling strangely trapped.

Upon turning around, every banal Midgardian greeting and social custom was wiped from his mind immediately. The bottle slipped from his hand, hitting the floor again.

 _What fresh hell was this?_


	3. I Miss You

**Cripes. I didn't mean for this chapter to be this long and I'm not sure I even did it right but...well here you go. Have a good night.**

This was no mere human resemblance or monstrous coincidence. There was no other, she had no equal. Loki could not breathe or think, his heart may as well have stopped beating.

Something was missing. His eyes, normally so perceptive and able to touch upon any flaw no matter how small, greedily raked over her. The flaw was there, he just couldn't find it.

Dark hair, slim body, pale skin…Then she finally turned to acknowledge his presence…as if they were strangers. The stack of paper she put on the table apparently was of more import than him.

Her eyes…Instead of their normal deep green; they were a cold metallic grey.

* * *

Thor slowly walked to the surveillance screen until he was face to face with it…This could not be.

"Is there a problem?" Nick Fury asked, his arms crossed, expression stoic.

"It's more than a problem" he said slowly, his mind spinning but not nearly as much as Loki's must be. The look on Loki's face was saying everything that he could not.

"Isn't that…?" Tony Stark pointed at the screen before turning to Coulson. "You said she was a civilian?"

"I said she wasn't Hydra" Coulson replied.

"Thor what's the matter?" Natasha asked.

"You have no idea what you've done son of Coul!" Thor exclaimed before turning on Fury. "What know you of this matter?"

"I could ask you the same question. What is the issue here?"

"Coulson did Lina consent to this?" Steve asked.

"Ok all of you secret keepers start explaining yourselves right now" Tony demanded, crossing his arms, glaring at Coulson, Thor and Steve.

* * *

Loki, normally eloquent and well-mannered, found words and manners were beyond him at this point. He couldn't even hear what she was saying amidst the ringing in his ears. He could only stand there.

His eyes fell on the laminate on her shirt as he realized she was standing in front of him.

Lina…..Lina….Alina…ALINA….LINA **…..LINA….LINA…**

* * *

Lina moved her hand in front of his face. His IQ was off the charts, which indicated intelligence…was this a personality thing? A trick he was trying to pull on her?

A surge of emotion was suddenly welling up inside her, emotions she didn't understand. Hurt, anger-no-rage, confusion, disbelief, fear. These were all inside her yet distantly removed. She felt them but she didn't.

Loki's green eyes locked down onto her grey ones…green eyes…green eyes…It didn't hit until she lifted her hand.

"Mr. Laufeyson would you care to sit down?" she asked, voice calm and authoritative, her hand extended towards his which were rigid by his sides, curled into fists as if he could barely contain himself.

* * *

Loki had expected the rug to be ripped out from under him at any second during this. He knew they didn't trust him and probably never would.

To say this was a humiliation was an understatement. This wasn't pain but something new and monstrous entirely. His ribs felt like they were going to snap.

His eyes were burning, tears slowly starting to fall down his face. They must be bloody pleased with themselves, reducing him of all creatures to tears.

Theories from serum to magic flew through his mind yet nothing he could come up with would make sense of this horror.

And to top it off, Alina merely tilted her head as if she…didn't understand, didn't know...she…didn't know…him.

What in the seven hells had they done to her?

* * *

Lina had expected sneering, threats, disturbing flattery but crying was not one of them. No sound came from his mouth but Loki looked as if he were facing the worst torture imaginable. This man had been smashed around by Bruce Banner himself, the Hulk and he had looked battered at best.

She would've brought tissues had she known, yet her pockets were empty. She looked back up at him as he was taller. Lina balled up her sleeve around her fist and tried to keep her expression…calm as she reached for his face.

* * *

Loki grabbed her wrist before she could touch him, his fingers digging through the fabric of her sleeve. A few days ago, he could've snapped it between his fingers like a twig. She was no phantom but a horrific mutilation of reality blended with the fabric of his memories and nightmares.

No sound came from her mouth, but her steel-colored eyes held his own, revealing nothing of which he had once been able to read.

It was a split second more before Loki suddenly lashed out with his other hand, fist smashing into Lina's face. She flew back against the glass before landing, presumably out cold on the cell floor.

He turned sharply away, arm over his mouth as if he were muffling a cough. Loki wiped at his face before pressing his fists to the other end of the glass barrier, leaning his head on them as he took great shuddering breaths and tried to rein in his agony and think.

They didn't care how he felt so he didn't care what they thought in return.

It was at that moment that the light in his cell went out, a few sparks raining down.

* * *

"Her out now, Barton ready a tranquilizer" Fury ordered.

"I wouldn't go in there" Coulson tried to say but Fury ignored him, going straight up to Thor.

"Is this what your Allfather calls Sealed?"

"His abilities are Taken and Sealed, none but Odin can Restore and Unseal!" Thor tried to explain.

"So we just happen to have a power outage?"

"Listen there is an explanation for this slight, my brother-"

"Is no more interested in rehabilitation than the worst junkie" Fury interrupted.

Coulson went straight for the intercom, ignoring them all.

"Lina?"

* * *

Though the light was gone, it wasn't as if the two were in pitch black. Yet the temperature in the cell had suddenly dropped to an unhealthy degree of cold.

Loki could see his breath in the air. For one second, he thought that through some emotional distress, he had gained his powers or at least his original Jotun abilities back.

But as he stretched his hand to the now frozen solid water bottle, it remained right where it was. His skin wasn't even blue.

Yet this quandary was gone as he sank to his knees and held Lina in his arms, holding her so tightly that he was surprised when he didn't hear a protest. He buried his face in her shoulder.

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry" he sniffled and shivered, moving his hand up her back, trying to keep her warm in this cold…perhaps Odin couldn't control everything. How long had he craved her touch that he thought forever lost?

"Mmmf" Just the barest hint of a noise escaped her mouth before Loki pulled slightly away from her. Her eyes were near shut and her fingers twitched. It was then that Loki noticed the thin layer of ice beginning to frost over the floor and the window. Yet for once this was not his fault. If they tried to take Alina from him, they had another thing coming.

Then as if someone had strings attached, Loki was roughly thrown back by an invisible force until he slammed into the glass before falling forward.

He couldn't breathe as the air was ripped from his lungs, too stunned to move.

The unhealthy gray of Lina's eyes fixed on him as she rose to her feet, a gray as cold and merciless as winter itself.

The ice, the cold, the outage…none of it was coming from Loki, who was still damnably mortal. It was coming from Lina.

Loki's fingers curled around a pen that had fallen, never taking his eyes off Lina…Alina…what difference did it make?

This whole affair just reeked of Odin and his need to teach lessons. But this was incredibly sadistic.

* * *

Lina's mind was flooded with footage of New York and the attack…as if she were there…She supposed that was where all this rage was coming from. The screams of men, women…

"Children…" the word escaped her mouth as well as a puff of visible air. Her gaze fixed itself on Loki, who seemed confused as he struggled to get to his feet. He was shaking.

"Men…women…children…you killed all of them" She took a step toward him, not sure if she was pleased when he visibly flinched.

"Mothers" Lina continued, getting visibly upset with each movement. Loki was on his knees at this point. " _Fathers, sisters, brothers, children_!" Lina's foot slammed into his face, sending him on his side again, clutching his now bleeding nose.

A few words suddenly clawed themselves from Loki's throat;

"N….Not….children"

He could barely say anything more before Lina delivered an iron kick to his stomach, then another…and a third. Loki wondered if his mortal ribs would survive.

 _"You...stupid...green-eyed...man!"_

The kicking stopped. Loki only wished his heart would too as Lina bent over him.

* * *

Coulson had given up on the now frozen intercom…but at Lina's enraged discovery, he couldn't fathom it.

"We need to get him out of there"

"Thank you Captain Obvious. Now I'm all for Elsa beating the stuffing out of Reindeer Games in there but what the hell did you bring here?"

"Six months I've known her and she's never shown anything to this degree. She doesn't even know her own birthday" Coulson argued.

"Yet she apparently knows Mr. Homicide down there"

"Six months and you didn't think to tell us anything?" Natasha snapped.

* * *

Revenants, shape-shifting demons, witchery, all of those seemed more plausible than the truth in front of him…which is why Loki, as if it would help this mess of a situation, jammed the pen as hard as he could…into the skin of Lina's arm, stabbing her.

Yet Lina simply looked at the pen and the bright red stain which was beginning to form.

She breathed out, closing her eyes, sparing Loki her unbearable gaze. With a sickening squish of noise, the pen started to dislodge itself from her flesh, rising into the air of its own accord.

Loki quickly attempted to move, as if there were anywhere for him to move to, when Lina's hand shot out, nails digging into his neck as he was pinned to the frozen glass.

He couldn't move even if he wanted to. Loki could only stare with horror, his shaking fingers reaching to her wrist.

A thousand questions arose in his mind, questions he wasn't even sure he wanted the answers to, questions he wasn't even sure where to start with.

They remained like that for what seemed like eternity, Lina's wide furious gaze burning into his wide terrified one.

"Lina!" came Coulson's muffled cry as he slammed on the door outside. Lina blinked before loosening her grip just the tiniest bit, enough for Loki to push her away, only to fall on his hands and knees to the ice-rink of a floor. "Lina are you alright?"

As it turned out, Lina was far from alright. Yet even as her insides hurt, she reached down to grab Loki once more by the collar of his shirt as the water bottle rolled of its own accord towards her.

Loki couldn't even beg, at least not with his voice which he felt like he hadn't used it for a thousand years. The plastic literally broke like a thin shell under her fingers so Lina was holding a hunk of ice in her hand…a hunk of ice which formed into a point until Lina held a solid spike of ice.

" _Lina_!" Coulson called again, more concerned about Lina's safety than Loki's. The note of urgency in his voice was what held the ice at bay as it was an inch from Loki's eye. "Look…I know you're upset…Can I come in?"

Whatever the son of Coul was saying, Loki couldn't make it out in this state of shock. All he knew was that he was keeping this monster on top of him at bay. Monster…Lina…Alina…

After a solid-three minute wait, Lina released her mental hold on the door. Coulson slowly stepped inside. He wasn't sure where to look first. At the solid coating of ice covering the cage, Lina, her arm, Loki…

He held his hands up. Lina was suddenly mindful of the dripping down her nose, knowing it was blood. Her eyes suddenly watered. She drew the tip of the ice spike back, setting it down on the floor.

"I know it's not your fault" Coulson said gently, taking slow measured steps toward her. "You're upset I get that. He started it, I get that"

Lina covered her mouth with her hand. Her head was a mass of pain and confusion. She felt like she was going to throw up.

" _I'm sorry_ " she whimpered, not sure if it was to Coulson or Loki or whatever God might be listening to her.

"Come on…Let's get you cleaned up" Coulson extended his hand as he gently wrapped his arm around Lina and she buried her face in his shoulder. Loki didn't dare move from his place on the floor, his eyes meeting Coulson's over Lina's shoulder.

"Consider this a debt pal" Coulson said his voice even and calm at his temporary murderer.

Loki laid there even after Coulson led Lina out of the cell before slowly passing a hand over his eyes. Humans could be terribly cruel when they wanted to be.


	4. Love in the Dark

**Hmmmm. Not quite sure about this chapter but here it is nonetheless.**

Loki didn't say a word as he was extricated from the frozen chamber that was his cell. There was absolutely nothing to say. He sat as Dr. Banner looked him over with X-rays, MRI's, and the usual. The attack had left a multitude of bruises on his body and he couldn't help the shaking. Despite the warmth of the room, Loki felt he might as well have been back in that frozen hell.

Bruce attempted to ask a few questions to gauge Loki's psychological state…Loki merely curled up on the medical cot, pulling the blankets over his head. Bruce could interpret that however he wished.

Yet Loki's rather pitiful state was interrupted by a thought that made him throw the blankets back and sit up again. He looked at the door as if he expected it to open.

He had stabbed her in the arm, punched her in the face…Shouldn't she be in here too?

"Fluids" Bruce said, placing a juice box in front of the ex-god. Loki glared at the man…before remembering that this man could turn into a monster as easily as…as Lina just had. "You want to explain what happened back there?"

Loki fixed his lips around the straw, watching the golden color of the apple juice as it rushed up towards him.

"You…know her?" Bruce tried again.

Sure Alina had had a violent life before him…but she never was as brutal as the lifestyle demanded of her. She was, despite all, kind however she tried to hide it…Loki's fingers tightened around the juice-box as old wounds were bled anew.

It was at this moment that Thor entered the room.

" _You-!_ " Loki snarled, throwing the juice box in his direction. Thor registered the pain on Loki's face, the assumption that Thor had had a hand in this.

"Brother listen-!"

" _You should have left me in that prison to rot!_ " Loki grabbed the front of Thor's suit, wanting nothing more than to strangle him.

"I did not know!" Thor urged. "I will ask Allfather, Heimdall, everyone! Did you feel anything?"

" _I-!_ " Loki paused. "What?"

Thor gently put his hands on Loki's, easily extricating the ex-god's fingers from his person, wondering how to approach this.

"Did you feel anything?" he asked again.

"You mean searing pain and bone-freezing winter?" Loki snapped.

"No no Mother told me"

Loki frowned, still not understanding.

"You had a Bond with her"

If Loki was angry before, he felt nothing but pure outrage. Yet he smoothed his expression.

"I don't know what you're talking about" he said.

"Loki-"

"What does it matter? There's nothing" Loki swallowed.

* * *

Lina forced herself to sit still as Natasha Romanoff bandaged her arm. Fury had wanted to put her into an immediate evaluation but given how Lina had reacted with Loki, Coulson advised that would not be the best idea.

Which meant that Wanda Maximoff was staring at Lina as if she could glean some answers by simply looking as Natasha looked her over.

"Anything?" Natasha murmured. Wanda's frown deepened, revealing her answer.

Lina suddenly gripped Natasha's arm as she felt a fresh alien wave of anger. She shook her head, trying to shake it off.

"What's wrong?" Natasha asked. Lina swallowed.

" _Why_ …Why is he so…angry?" Lina shut her eyes, trying to block it out.

"Who? Loki?"

"I don't know" Lina shook her head again. "He's in _pain_ "

Natasha tried to direct the conversation elsewhere, trying to make sense of it herself as she asked;

"Have you ever frozen anything before?" she asked.

Lina blinked.

"I…I don't think so…I can't just do it, it…comes out" Lina tried to explain as best she could. "I couldn't freeze a glass of water if I wanted to"

"What happened when you met Loki?"

"I was…fine at first. He wouldn't sit down; he looked like someone was hurting him. Then I just…felt it…rage and pain…but it wasn't mine…then everything he's done just sort of…flashed before my eyes and I got a little upset"

"A little?" Wanda remarked.

"You're not helping" Natasha said through gritted teeth.

"Don't remind me" Wanda scowled. Even with her abilities, Lina was a locked vault to even the Scarlet Witch.

* * *

"You need to eat something" Bruce was doing his best to try and tend to Loki's needs. Loki simply stared at the ceiling, lost in thought. He only came out of his reverie to smack the box of tissues Bruce had offered…Lina had brought him to tears after all.

"Give us a minute" Coulson ordered as he approached. Relieved, Banner took his leave as Loki was the sole occupant.

Coulson's blue eyes carefully gauged Loki's green ones…The mysterious green-eyed man revealed at last. He could only partially understand why Lina had been so upset.

"What do you know?" he asked at last.

"Nothing Thor hasn't told you already I presume" Loki replied.

"She knows nothing…You owe her any memories you have. Her memory is botched"

"What do you care for the creature?" Loki snarled.

"As far as I know she's human. Hate to break it to you but you are too now" Coulson responded.

"And don't you just enjoy it?" Loki glared at Coulson full in the eye.

"Look. You stabbed me in the back, that's fine" Coulson took a few steps forward "But if you hurt her again, things will get ugly. Very quickly"

"I'd say they already have" Loki shrugged. "And as you can see, Alina is more than capable of…self-defense" He swallowed quietly, the name still painful on his mouth after all these years.

"It's Lina"

"No, there's an 'A' the last time I checked"

Coulson clicked a pen.

"What else?"

"Why not ask Thor?"

"I want to hear it from you" Coulson said grimly.

"I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to say" Loki also didn't add that he'd rather die than divulge that part of his life to Coulson. It was private and he'd be damned if he showed anymore weakness today. He pretended to look at the needles and tubes on his hands that Banner had seen fit to hook him up to.

"Thor says you loved her"

Loki chose this moment to rip one of the needles out of his hands, the pain of which would set off beeping to bring Banner back and also distract him from this latest embarrassing exposure.


	5. Meet Me In the Middle

**:)**

Lina still couldn't remember anything, even after she had finally met the Green-Eyed Man, otherwise known as Loki. It was rather depressing actually. She hadn't known what finding him would accomplish or what she hoped to gain from it…but after knowing and partially, bizarrely experiencing what he had done, it was a wonder that Lina had cared at all.

Coulson had managed to spare her any further examination. No one wanted to upset the freak, she thought morosely. But apparently, the operation was still underway.

Was Loki even capable of remorse or mortal assimilation? The amount of evidence piling up against such a notion was staggering.

* * *

Loki all but choked on his tea when Thor broke the news;

"This farce is still ongoing?" he snarled, wiping some of the hot liquid off his face. If the choice was between a cell in Asgard and the monster, he would gladly take the cell than have everyone bear witness to what was already a crippling humiliation.

"It worked for me did it not?" Thor replied.

"We both know you're as stupid as before but this is a bit different than being unable to wield your precious hammer!" Loki slammed the mug down.

"It's for your own good" Thor sighed in response.

"And your entertainment too I expect" Loki sat back, as mistrustful as ever. "When's the wretched Phase Two?"

Phase One had been the disaster that was introductions. Phase Two would be a series of tests and paperwork to make sure Lina was capable of mentally handling him. Loki could probably outsmart any normal human that was put in front of him.

"In ten minutes" Thor shrugged. "You can be quite charming if you recall"

"There's no charming… _that_. There never was" Loki remarked. Alina had not tolerated any 'charm' from him, suspicious even when he was honest with her…She had only started to trust him before her life was taken. The creature that had taken her place and her guise would probably kill him if Loki so much as breathed the wrong way.

* * *

Lina's dark hair was pulled back in a simple bun. She didn't normally do anything with her hair but perhaps it might make her appear more…civilized. Not that she really cared what Loki thought of her. Instead of black, white or grey, she wore a blue button down shirt over black slacks. She needed to show him that he would not get a reaction such as the first time.

He had seemed hesitant to re-enter his cell, which had been restored to its normal state, free of ice but now sat in there as he had the first time, a table bolted to the floor, and 2 chairs.

He winced slightly as he sat in the chair, moving a tad slower than normal. According to Dr. Banner, he still had bruises.

Small bag over her wrist, paper work in one hand and cup of coffee in the other, Lina entered the cell.

Whilst she felt calm, there was still a bubble of anxiety in the space that showed no signs of dissipating.

* * *

It hurt to look at her but Loki found he was able to rein himself in this time. He watched as she didn't look at him and took a seat opposite.

A cup, a massive hunk of paperwork and…Loki visibly, regrettably flinched as something rose of its own accord from the paper bag.

Sitting now in front of him, on a napkin was a threat…a simple one to be sure but a threat nonetheless. Loki eyed the donut with its chocolate frosting and green sprinkles. By raising it to him with her apparent telepathy, Lina was showing that she had the upper hand here.

The irony of this twisted situation never ceased to amaze. She was his captor as he had been hers…In her world, her…care if that was the correct word for it. Loki slowly took a bite…to show that he could be civilized…and yet Lina was already looking at the stack of paperwork…ignoring him.

"You can't read"

Lina's gaze snapped up to him. It then dawned on Loki that he had talked with his mouthful. He swallowed before saying as clearly and calmly as he could manage;

"You can't read" he said again, before he could consider the consequences of such a statement. Lina blinked those disturbingly metal-colored eyes again before replying;

"I assure you I can" she replied. Loki frowned.

"Who taught you?" he asked.

"No one" Lina countered before lowering her gaze back to the paper in front of her, signing it before flipping to the next one.

Loki let out a short harmless humorless laugh. He quickly straightened his expression as Lina fixed her gaze on him again and then returned back to the paperwork.

"Does it amuse you that someone other than yourself possesses a mote of intelligence?" Lina asked.

"It's rare" Loki shrugged.

"Then you should have no problem with this" A case of some sort lifted onto the table at the wave of Lina's hand, unfolding as several black and white pieces arranged themselves into a neatly ordered chess game. Lina was black….Loki was white.

"I thought that bothered you" Loki remarked, remembering how almost immediately Coulson had coaxed her from murdering him that she had coughed, her nose bleeding, a hand clutching her stomach.

"Little things like this are of no consequence, neither is a knife to flesh"

Silence. Until;

"I'm sorry" Lina sighed, rubbing her forehead, trying to ward off the slight pang that had formed.

"Am I supposed to accept?" Loki asked coldly.

"No you're supposed to play" Lina murmured as a single black piece of hers moved forward.

"Well don't throw a fit if I win" Loki snapped, giving it a moment's thought before pushing his own piece forward.

"You will not get a reaction like that again I assure you" she replied, her tone frustratingly even-tempered. Loki frowned.

"You used to be fun" he said as Lina took a sip of her coffee.

"You incorrectly stated I couldn't read so forgive me if I don't trust your judgement" Lina replied.

"Any other reason you shouldn't trust me?" Loki's lips quirked upward just a bit. Perhaps all the fun hadn't been sucked out of her after all.

"You are notorious for lying. You stabbed me in the arm, punched me in the face, shall I go on?"

"Well I don't take kindly to being snuck up on" Loki snarled as he made another move.

"Perhaps you should've thought about that before New York. Please stop talking"

Loki was just about to snap at her to make him…until it occurred to him that Lina probably could. He gave a huge sigh of frustration and took an unnecessarily large bite of the donut.

Stress-eating had never been a particular fault of his but perhaps after this, it would be…if there was to be an 'after-this'.


End file.
